A Binghamton University professor has been appointed to the Council of Public Representatives (COPR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Leo Wilton, an associate professor in BU’s Africana studies department and College of Community and Public Affairs, was one of six new appointees to the council.

Wilton was hand-picked by the NIH director’s office out of 70 candidates.

“I was honored and privileged to be selected,” said Wilton, who has taught at BU since 2001. “This opportunity is a national service.”

According to its Web site, NIH is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency for conducting and supporting medical research.

The COPR was created in 1999 in response to a mandate by the federal government to create a link between the NIH to the public.

The result was the invention of “special government employees,” including public liaisons in all NIH institutes, to whom anyone can go to with questions.

According to its Web site, the council’s objective is to uncover the knowledge that helps to prevent, detect, diagnose and treat disease and disability.

In the next year, Wilton will be partnering with NIH to collect and analyze data for its Request for Information, or RFI, initiative. With the help of 10 BU students, Wilton will set up online and hard copy surveys as a way to gain insight into how Americans gather their information about public health.

The NIH houses 27 institutes and 18,000 employees in Bethesda, Md. The COPR serves as a public voice to Director Francis Collins and provides feedback from the community.

“We are very excited about Leo Wilton,” said Kelli Carrington, COPR coordinator in the Office of Communications and public liaison. “He has provided us with thoughtful input and insight.”

Wilton will sit on the council for four years. He is confident his experience as a professor, teacher and researcher in both the university and community settings will positively impact his role on the council. Wilton has been the regional trainer for the American Psychological Association’s HIV Office for Psychology Education and specializes in psychological development and mental health.

“I will bring all of those experiences to NIH,” Wilton said.

Carrington notes the COPR is valuable in that it volunteers a lot of its time to NIH projects.

“The RFI is an experiment to get the perspective of as many people across the country as we can,” Carrington said.

The COPR consists of 21 members and meets twice a year in April and October at the Bethesda campus. Wilton spent the last week of October at NIH.

Wilton notes that NIH does not advocate for one specific issue, but the COPR signs on to participate and debates on collective issues, such as working alongside the community to conduct research.